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- Alfred Gérente (1821-1868)
Under the direction of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1869)
Stained glass window from the Saint-Joseph chapel, 1865, fourth chapel of the right aisle
Paris, cathédrale Notre-Dame
Photo: La Tribune de l’Art - See the image in its page
The Act of 29 July 2019 for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral has the advantage of being clear on one point, which is contained in its title: it is about conservation and restoration. Not creation. And the national fundraising campaign for Notre-Dame hammered home the point, adding only one other use for the money raised thanks to the generosity of donors: the training of professionals in charge of the worksite[[The precise text of article 2 is as follows: "The funds raised under the national fundraising campaign are intended exclusively to finance conservation and restoration work on Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris and its State-owned furnishings, as well as the initial and ongoing training of professionals with the specific skills that will be required for this work."].
The law also added that this conservation and restoration work should ‘preserve the historical, artistic and architectural interest of the monument’.
As for the public establishment created by this same law, it has only one mission: ‘to ensure the management, coordination and implementation of studies and operations contributing to the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris’. Here again: conservation and restoration. Just that, and nothing else.
The fact that it organised the competition for the creation of the new stained glass windows and the replacement of the old ones, which are still in place and listed, is therefore against the law on several counts:
– it is not part of the mission defined by the law,
– it is even contrary to that mission, which is to restore and conserve Notre-Dame, since it involves removing listed stained glass windows, and therefore not conserving them,
– the time spent on this new stained glass project is paid for by the budget of the public institution, which is topped up by donations from fundraising: this is money that should be reserved exclusively for the restoration and conservation of the building.
The public contract and the procedure - in particular the competition that was organised - for this project are therefore totally illegal. The first, bidding, phase involved handing over bids on 24/5/2024. The consultation rules were entitled:"Design, production and installation of contemporary stained glass windows in the bays of six chapels in the south aisle of the nave of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris". In vain is there any mention of "conservation and restoration". The contracting authority is clearly named: it is the public establishment responsible for the conservation and restoration of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. The entire procedure leading to the appointment of Claire Tabouret is therefore null and void.
In fact, it was only on 26 November 2024 that the Board of Directors gave "delegation to the president [of the public establishment] to award the contract for the design, production and installation of contemporary stained glass windows in the bays of six chapels in the south aisle of the nave". It is amusing to see a board of directors delegate a power that it does not have.
The contract was finally signed on 30 December 2024 and the notice of award was published on 26 January 2025 (where we learn that the manufacture of these stained glass windows alone will cost 3.1 million euros, with the total, including removal and installation, exceeding 4 million, as we had already learned).
If there was still any doubt, these acts are indicative of an irregular procedure. This is why, without even waiting for the Prefect to issue the works permit - if this is ever issued - which will also be open to challenge, this time on the merits of the project, the Sites & Monuments association has decided to appeal to the Administrative Court against the decision of 26 November 2024, and consequently against the entire current procedure. The lawyer in charge of the case is Francis Monamy, a specialist in administrative law and particularly in heritage and environmental issues. The aim here is to challenge the form of this project, since the public institution has no legitimacy to award this contract. On the other hand, the association has an interest in acting, since the defence of heritage, and in particular the conservation and restoration of historic monuments, is at the heart of its articles of association. In addition, a donor from the national fundraising campaign has joined this action, and this donor also has an interest in taking action, since the money donated by the fundraising campaign cannot under any circumstances be used for anything other than the conservation and restoration of the cathedral, and even less can it go against the conservation of listed parts of this monument.
This donor, who will therefore represent the countless others who refuse to allow the removal of Viollet-le-Duc’s stained glass windows, is Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond, an art historian and occasional contributor to La Tribune de l’Art.
While the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture has unanimously voted against the project, while the majority of civil servants in the Ministry of Culture are opposed to it, as we regularly observe and as Stéphane Bern recently reminded us, and while the petition now exceeds 277,000 signatures, the President of the Republic, the Minister of Culture and the Archbishop of Paris are persisting with their project, and they are not even capable of carrying it out properly. There’s still time to cut their losses (and not just figuratively). And if they don’t, there will be plenty of opportunities for the courts to do so.